I wish to update the House on the Government’s plans for the Integrated Security Fund (ISF) and how funding will be allocated over the next three years (2026/27, 2027/28 and 2028/29) to support delivery of the UK’s national security priorities.
As the 2025 National Security Strategy made clear, threats to British national security and interests are proliferating. Foreign powers plot espionage, sabotage and cyber-attacks on British soil – colluding with criminal groups to achieve their aims. The threat posed by terrorism continues to persist and diversify. Hostile actors seek to undermine and destabilise the international order not only through conflict and aggression, but through hybrid tactics aimed at sowing and exploiting divisions within our societies.
In this increasingly complex and interconnected national security landscape, it is more important than ever that we take an integrated approach to protecting the UK and its people. This year the ISF has already demonstrated its value in coordinating whole-of-government responses to key threats, providing vital support for the Government of Ukraine’s efforts to oppose Russian aggression and investing in the UK’s own resilience to threats.
Over the next three years, the Government will continue to invest in the ISF as a cross-government mechanism which can complement the work of individual departments, while embarking on ambitious reforms to improve its efficiency and to directly align the Fund’s work with the Government’s wider national security response and the National Security Strategy. This will support the ISF to deliver on its core purpose: protecting the UK’s national security domestically and overseas.
Reform
For 2025/26 the ISF delivered a series of structural changes, closing some ISF Portfolios and consolidating others to streamline and focus the Fund’s efforts. This was part of a phased transition towards a reformed ISF governance structure which will take effect from 2026/27. The second phase of ISF transformation will:
Deliver a more focused ISF Strategic Framework concentrating ISF programming on tackling five key areas: Russia; Iran & its proxies; threats emanating from the Asia Pacific region; Serious & Organised Crime, including Organised Immigration Crime; and Terrorism. The ISF will also focus on building sovereign capabilities in four areas (Cyber & Tech, Biosecurity, Counter State & Hybrid Threats and Economic Security).
From 2026/27 onwards funding will be allocated and programming overseen by cross-Government Boards responsible for delivering the UK’s strategies related to each of the ISF’s nine strategic priorities. This will see an end to bespoke ISF governance arrangements, leading to greater accountability for spending through the ISF and reduced bureaucracy.
Set multi-year allocations to enable more efficient, longer-term programming. To preserve the ISF’s flexibility to respond to a crisis or a change in security priorities, this will be balanced by holding 20% of the allocations in 2027/28 and 2028/29 ‘at risk’ and available for reprioritisation if necessary.
Transfer responsibility for funding the UK’s contributions to UN peacekeeping missions and other multilateral commitments to the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Ministry of Defence (MOD). This is in line with the ISF’s sharper strategic focus on UK national security. The ISF will continue to fund wider programming to prevent and/or resolve conflict and instability where there is a direct link to UK national security.
Spending Review 2025 Allocations
These reforms will enable the ISF to maximise the national security impact of its budget over the SR25 period. This budget totals c.£820m per year, of which c.£200m per year is Official Development Assistance (ODA). The ISF will transfer c.£250m per year to FCDO and MOD to enable those departments to manage UN peacekeeping and multilateral commitments currently funded by the ISF. The ISF will also transfer a further £30m, £70m, and £100m non-ODA to the Home Office (HO) over the three years of SR25 to support national security priorities and safeguard the UK’s homeland security. The ISF’s budget for national security programming will therefore total £545m, £499m and £471m in 2026/27, 2027/28 and 2028/29 respectively.
The ISF will focus programming funding towards the most acute threats to UK national security. This includes increasing the ISF’s investment in its two largest areas of spend: countering Russian aggression, including in Ukraine; and strengthening the Cyber and Tech capabilities of the UK and our allies. Together, these areas make up 46% of the ISF’s budget in 2026/27. By 2028/29 the ISF will also increase funding by 33% to enable the UK to counter threats emanating from the Asia Pacific region, including engaging safely and securely with China while protecting UK interests, and supporting our partners around the world do the same. The ISF will also invest in new cross-cutting, domestic Counter State Threats programming which will complement actor-specific international activity to counter Russia and other states.
The ISF’s Counter Terrorism (CT) allocation will increase from £31m this year to £58m in 2026/27, before declining to £46m by 2028/29. This frontloaded allocation will establish new domestic CT capabilities from next year, whilst providing sufficient funding to maintain existing CT activity in Africa and the Middle East. In 2026/27 ISF funding on Serious Organised Crime will also rise by c.£10m from 2025/26 levels, to fund new activity disrupting and dismantling criminal groups facilitating illegal migration to the UK.
Prioritising funding in these areas means that greater fiscal discipline is required elsewhere in the Fund. Programming in the Middle East will narrow its focus to countering the highest priority threats in the region and to support work to secure a resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict through a negotiated two state solution. The ISF allocation will therefore reduce by 20% by the end of the SR25 period. Following the ISF’s successful maturation of UK sanctions capabilities, which will be funded by departments’ core budgets from next financial year, the ISF’s allocation to Economic Security will also reduce from £12m in 2026/27 to £8m in 2028/29. The ISF will maintain funding for strengthening UK resilience and preparedness in relation to Biosecurity threats at £15m per year through the SR25 period.
These allocations closely align ISF funding with the priorities of the National Security Strategy. They balance investment in capabilities to bolster domestic resilience and make the UK a harder target for hostile actors, with overseas activity to promote stability and help allies and friends bolster their own resilience. Together with the reforms to the ISF’s structure and operating model, they will ensure the ISF is not only more efficient but more impactful in protecting the UK and our partners globally.
ISF SR25 Allocations
2026/27
2027/28
2028/29
Non-ODA (£m)
ODA
(£m)
Total
(£m)
Non-ODA
(£m)
ODA
(£m)
Total
(£m)
Non-ODA
(£m)
ODA
(£m)
Total
(£m)
Strategy Boards
Asia Pacific
21.5
6.0
27.5
24.0
6.0
30.0
27.0
6.0
33.0
Russia
59.5
75.0
134.5
49.1
76.7
125.8
46.7
79.4
126.1
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
37.5
32.0
69.5
30.0
32.0
62.0
25.0
32.0
57.0
Counter Terrorism
40.0
18.0
58.0
33.0
18.0
51.0
28.0
18.0
46.0
Serious Organised Crime including Organised Immigration Crime
15.0
17.5
32.5
15.0
19.0
34.0
12.5
19.0
31.5
Biosecurity
15.0
0.0
15.0
15.0
0.0
15.0
15.0
0.0
15.0
Counter State & Hybrid Threats
20.0
0.0
20.0
20.0
0.0
20.0
18.0
0.0
18.0
Economic Security
12.0
0.0
12.0
10.0
0.0
10.0
8.0
0.0
8.0
Cyber & Tech
113.3
5.2
118.5
102.0
5.5
107.5
95.0
5.5
100.5
Additional Costs
Central Capabilities
3.4
0.2
3.6
2.6
0.2
2.8
2.3
0.2
2.5
Exit Costs
2.0
0.0
2.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Central Administration
1.0
0.0
1.0
1.0
0.0
1.0
1.0
0.0
1.0
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wms/?id=2026-02-10.hcws1322.0
seen at 10:27, 11 February in Written Ministerial Statements.